HP Pavilion Slimline s3330f, is it a good prebuilt htpc? - Page 8

Frys had it for $799 when I bought. Check out their site.

No remorse. I've solved my problem with standby seemingly. It was an issue with SageTV. I never did get SageTV working right on that machine, so I'm using WMC instead. Sage had different problems on my old HTPC, so I think it's more their fault than the machine's fault.

I've only had my 3400t for a week or so, and my only beef with it so far is fan noise. I can hear it at 8 feet as a mild, yet noticeble whooshing sound. I'm pretty sure it's the CPU fan making the racket due to high rotation speed. I called HP tech support to see if there was a way to reduce the speed but the rep I spoke with had no answer. I like the box enough that I'll go ahead and get a fan varistor to fix it.

I feel a bit sandbagged by this because I purchased a 3300t (same hardware as the 3400t except no blu-ray drive) for general productivity work a few weeks prior to ordering the 3400t. I sit 3 feet away from it and have to really strain to hear it at all, which was part of my motivation for purchasing the 3400t. Again, I like the 3400t enough to go through the effort required to silence its CPU fan.

The 3400t is relatively cool overall but the power supply does get slightly toasty.

Two days ago the mouse on our machine stopped working. Keyboard continued to work just fine, however.

Today I did the techinical chat routine with HP and, bottom line, HP is going to send us a new mouse and receiver under warranty.

This is the first time in my computer life that I've ever had any mouse fail for any reason, so I hope this is not indicative of the reliability of the rest of the machine's components.

If other s3330f owners have mouse failures, I hope they report it here.

Has the s3300 worked OK passing audio encountered on the web via HDMI? I too want to use this primarily for internet access, viewing streaming video, play itunes or rhapsody audio, etc. I want to pass it through an Onkyo 805 via HDMI which then goes to my TV and audio system.

Thank you.

Is the 3300t still available? I see the 3400 on HP's website, but can't find 3300t. If there is a difference in fan noise, I would prefer the 3300 if it is quiter for some reason. Why would the fan noise be greater on the 3400?

I am having the same issue with HP DVD Play. Still troubleshooting. I will try Herve suggestion on the changing the Display (below your post) and report back.

I just bought 3400t with 256mb geforce 8500gt video card.
I opened up the system........ I'm pretty sure that the jet sound fan noise comes from 8500gt video card.

cpu fan, power supply fan................both of them are quiet.

I just installed a version of the 8500GT in my HP Z555 DEC. It's the MSI NX8500GT-MTD256EH. It has DVI and HDMI output, and uses a large heat sink in lieu of a fan. It's a low profile card.

I think you can get it for like $70 at NewEgg. Great card and silent!

SF

I ordered a Slimline S3400F from HP with the GT8500 HDMI. I didn't like the fan noise either. HP wouldn't take back the card by itself - only exchange the whole computer for one without the card!? That actually turned out for the best because I just returned the PC to HP for credit. I then went out and bought a S3400F at retail. The S3400F you buy at the stores has a different motherboard config. It has an extra slot for a NIC card. Well, most people won't need this because they have Wi-Fi. The retail S3400F has a wireless card built in. So I took out the NIC card and that freed up enough space for the fanless MSI NX8500GT-MTD256EH that I got from Newegg. The card is dead quiet. The S3400F that I got from HP has no NIC card slot but it looked like it would be very tight to get a MSI NX8500GT-MTD256EH into the PCIE slot. The MSI has a large, thick heatsink and there are some tight, possibly obstructing plugs on the HP configed motherboard.

This card does Hardware Acceleration, and makes even choppy NTSC signals cleaner. My CPU on my (3 year old) Z555 was at 80% decoding HD before I installed this card. Now it's at like 15%. 1080P decoding is about the same.

Definitely worth your time to make sure you get this card in your system (somehow). I think the s3330f ships with it.

SF

Anyone else having issues with tearing on the s3330f playing DVDs? It's only with camera movement, but it's annoying.

Also, I don't know if it's something the wife or daughter did, or it it was automatic, but I kept getting prompted to download an update for the HP DVD player from Cyberlink. I'm a "if it ain't broke" kinda guy, but I downloaded and installed it without issue (in part due to this issue). Didn't help or hurt.

What software are you using to play sd dvds? (I assume you are talking about sd dvds and not hd-dvds.)

If you are using the OEM HP DVD Play to play sd dvds, download a trial version of WinDVD 8 and see if you have the same problems. If not, you know what to do.

Good luck.

Yes, I was using the OEM version (newly updated as mentioned). I already have SageTV installed, so I can try that.

In another thread I read that Vista may use overlay with certain programs if you have Aero turned off. I think I do have it off because I was trying to deal with a SageTV issue. Does anyone think that might be it? I'll give it a try, either way.

I turned Aero back on, and the issue went away (using the same DVD). I hope there aren't any other changes I made for Sage that I don't remember (that are outside Sage).

I just picked up a s3330f and am having trouble getting the HDMI output working with my Panasonic PT-AX100 projector.

Anyone else get it working and have some tips?

EDIT --- Disregard, I got it working. Had it connected to VGA, then connected to HDMI. HDMI started working when I removed VGA.


Steve

For those that are using the MSI NX8500GT-MTD256EH video card in your slimline (and if you got the card from newegg), what low profile bracket works with the card, so that it can fit in the slimline?

Hello. I just purchased the HP 3330f and am having a problem getting the HDMI to work properly.

I have a Sony Bravia with 1080p that I am using as a monitor. I can get this to work only after I have booted up with a normal monitor through DVI. Once i get the HD TV to work and then power off the machine, it will not boot up through the HDMI, only the DVI.

Obviously it is a pain in the arse to have to switch the wiring everytime I boot the machine. Any ideas on what the problem might be would be grand. I have the nvidia configured for one device only and it recognizes my TV and looks great until I reboot.thanks

Try some variations of the following:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0#post13583100

Your HDMI device should be active on boot-up if it is set up as one of the "multiple monitors", AND a resolution common to both displays has been selected prior to shutdown.

So I've had a 3220f for awhile, and I picked up the same 8500GT from the 3330f off ebay for pretty cheap (~$45 shipped).

I can get HDMI video to work fine, but I can't find any options at all for HDMI audio. I looked at a few older posts and somebody posted a screen shot of the HDMI tab in the Realtek Audio Manager (see post 48 here:http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...9#post13081259 ), I don't have that tab.

I have hooked up the audio portion of the 8500 to the SPDIF header on the motherboard. I don't get any audio through HDMI through the TV itself or through my reciever (HDMI capable).

Any ideas? I've updated all my drivers and such.

This is the tab I don't have:

Herve...I only want the HDMI display to function and I have the Nvidia set to single display. I also have the resolution set to 1920 x 1080 and I know I have a 1080p TV. The color is set to 32 bit with 60 Hertz- do you think there is a problem with these settings for a KDS-55A3000? The driver is up to date.

Thanks for the help.

I fixed my issue above, need to download a different driver:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...&GetDown=false

after reboot, goto Control Panel, Sounds, and change the default device to HDMI Audio. It then shows up in the Realtek Manager.

When you are in multiple-display mode and both your monitor and Sony are being driven by the 8500, are the Sony and the monitor in clone mode? If not, please put them in clone mode. After that, what is the resolution being displayed on both devices?

Are both devices correctly identified in the Nvidia control panel, "set up mulitple display" screen?

Is the Sony the leftmost of the two displays listed in the dropdown list? If not, select the drop-down item that has it in the leftmost position. After the Sony is in the leftmost position, select the "single monitor" option, then hit "Apply". Is the Sony then still recognized as the single monitor? If so, shut down the computer and reboot. (Do you turn on the Sony before starting the computer? If not, please do so.)

Please report back after trying the above.

Herve...I just put the monitor and TV into clone mode and the Nvidia has dropped the resolution to 1280 x 1024. The signal/HD format is now "Non-HDTV format" and the screen shrunk on my TV.

Are both devices correctly identified in the Nvidia control panel, "set up mulitple display" screen?

The two devices are identified as follows on the Nvidia control panel: Sony TV XV + Sony SDM HS73. Obviously, that is not the correct name for my TV (KDS55A3000). The monitor name is correct.

The Sony TV is the leftmost on the dropdown as indicated by the Sony TV XV + Sony SDM HS73 ( I assume this is what you meant). It looks like the icon on the left is meant to be a TV as well. After selecting "Apply," the monitor turned off and the TV picture returned to wide screen from the shrunk down size.

I always have the TV on before turning on the machine.

I will shut down and reboot now without the DVI monitor being plugged in. BRB

Herve...I just rebooted without the DVI (monitor) hooked up and the same thing occurred- the dos looking screen appeared (on the TV) and once windows tried to load, the HD TV turned black and the computer quit processing. When I have both the DVI and TV hooked up on reboot with the single device selected, all the pre-Windows dos stuff appears on the monitor and then Windows loads on the TV (odd).

Also, some other notes and observations: I tried to play my first Blu-Ray DVD yesterday and the machine will not read it at all. It will not even recognize it on the 'My Computer" drive screen. The computer will not even boot with the Blu-Ray disc in the drive. This is 90% of the reason I got this machine (ARRRG). Normal DVDs work fine.

Upon further inspection, the Nvidia driver IS NOT up to date. I tried to install the sp37331 update that deals with the sleep mode issue and it told me my machine was not capable of installing the update. Something about the specs not being up to par for the update.

Finally, when I first booted up the computer out of the box, I didn't know there was a VGA to DVI adapter, so I unscrewed the "DO NOT REMOVE" cap on the VGA output and booted up the machine through VGA. I did this because the manual says not to boot up the machine for the first time through HDMI. Could this be causing this mess? Is the computer not recognizing the TV correctly?

I've spent hours on the phone with HP Customer Service and they are totally inept. I sincerely appreciate the help.

It's not good that Nvidia is not identifying the TV correctly. How old is the TV? Is it HDCP compliant?

Anyway, after you select "apply", you say the TV picture returns to wide screen from the "shrunk down size". Shortly after the time that the image fills the screen, what is the resolution that Nvidia has selected for the TV? You can determine this by selecting the "change resolution" option on the left. Whatever Nvidia has selected at that moment, is 1080 @ 60 available in the resolution list on the right? If so, select it, hit apply, and see what happens.

Report back and then I'll address some of your next message. (One thing now, though - don't boot the computer with a BD disk in the drive.)

The TV is only four months old. I don't know if it is HDCP compliant, but I assume it would be- here are the specs http://reviews.cnet.com/projection-t...-32468848.html

The TV resolution after switching back to single from clone defaults at 1920 X 1080 with 60 htz. This what is shown after the 'single display' is done configuring itself.

Also, there are updates for the hp dvd player and nvidia . I get an error message saying my system does not meet the minimum requirements for both when downloading from the 3330f main page..

Thanks

I've had this thing for a month or so now, and except for the fact that I couldn't get SageTV to work on it (stuttering, standby issues), I must say this thing is really easy to setup if you just want to use it out of the box (e.g. use WMC). I know some people here are having HDMI issue, but I had not issue with DVI, setting the overscan was relatively simple, as was setting the various resolutions (actually I've only tried two, the default one and the one I wanted).

Perhaps there's something to be said for pre-built in that someone else has already figured out how to get things to work.

So at least the pc recognizes that the TV is capable of 1080p and automatically selects that resolution for it. Good.

Now about the failure to boot up with the TV set as the single display. After you press the power button to start the PC, are you waiting a good long time for the computer to finally boot up? On our system, after getting the green Vista background on our projector's display, the screen then goes black yet again for a period of sometimes 30 seconds, then, finally, the desktop appears. Try waiting longer than long and see if the desktop finally does appear.

If it absolutely will not boot with the TV set as the single display, I'm afraid you may have to go through that little dance every time you want to use the TV in 1080p.
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About not being able to play BD disks, exacty what happens when you insert the BD disk in the drive and you then start up HP DVD Play? That is, after DVD Play starts, are there any messages whatsoever on the main DVD Play screen, such as "Insert a disk into the drive", or anything else?

On the little pop-up menu on the lower right of the main HP DVD Play screen, click on the little disk icon near the left end of the menu. Are there any selections at all available on the selection that pops open from that?

If you put a standard def dvd in the drive, will HP DVD Play play that disk?

Herve..I just powered up the machine w/o the DVI hooked up, waited 5 minutes and nothing. Once Vista tries to load, the computer basically goes idle and stops scanning the hard drive. I guess theres not much I can do except contact Nvdida for an explanation.

As far as the BDVD, when I put the disc in, no program automatically starts even though I have set the autostart for BDVD to HP DVD Play. Once I manually start HP DVD Play, "Loading...." appears and then "Insert BD / HD / DVD or Press Play Button" appears. Pressing play does nothing. After about a minute, "Can not read format" will appear. (ARRRRRRRRRG)

When clicking on the pop-up disc icon, "DVD RW (E" (not smiling) will appear. Clicking on that does nothing.

Normal DVDs work fine on the HP DVD Play.

Do you have any idea why it tells me my system does not meet the minimum requirements when I try to download these driver updates meant for this machine? Could this be the problem? The driver update for the DVD Play says rthe minimum reqs are to be logged on as an admin. and be running vista and I am both, and I still get this message.

Thanks